


Words of Revolution

by FanficAllergy, RoseFyre



Series: Hunger Games Soulmate Fics [6]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: 74th Hunger Games, 75th Hunger Games, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Romantic Soulmates, Slow Build, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5993737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanficAllergy/pseuds/FanficAllergy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseFyre/pseuds/RoseFyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Primrose Everdeen hated her soulmate's words. Hated them! When you have the words, "I'm sorry about your sister." etched into your skin in dark red letters you'll do anything to avoid hearing them. Except that's not how fate works. So what will you do then? That's a question Prim and her soulmate will have to answer together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Words of Revolution

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [write love on my skin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1835587) by [amusewithaview](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusewithaview/pseuds/amusewithaview). 



_Disclaimer:  The Hunger Games Trilogy is property of Suzanne Collins.   This is a parody fanwork by fans for fans.  No money was made off of the creation of this fanwork._

 

 

 

 

**Words of Revolution**

_by FanficAllergy and RoseFyre_

**oOo**

 

Prim hated her words.

 

* _I’m sorry about your sister._ * was etched in a dark red messy scrawl down her left side.

 

Nothing good could come from those words.  

 

And everyone knew it.

 

Her mother and father forced her to keep her words hidden from Katniss.  They didn’t want to scare her. They wanted her to have a normal life.  Prim understood.  Even if she thought it was a little silly, because everyone suffered in Panem.  Especially those in District Twelve.  Still, she did as they asked. It was the first secret Prim kept from her big sister.

 

It wouldn’t be the last.

 

When she got older, Prim started to make up scenarios in her head about how she and her soulmate might meet, ways that weren’t so terrible.  Maybe Katniss lost a sports competition.  Or got sick.  Or she didn’t meet her soulmate until they were really old, and Katniss died of old age.  Nothing said that you had to meet your soulmate when you were young.  For all Prim knew, she’d meet the person the universe felt was her best match at the ripe old age of sixty.  That wouldn’t be so bad.

 

She knew her soulmate was older than her, but well, lots of people were older than her.  Hell, Rory Hawthorne was older than her, but only by three days.  Not like that stopped him from lording it over her.

 

So maybe things would work out.  Maybe everyone would be wrong.

 

Except Prim had a horrible suspicion that they were right.

 

**oOo**

 

Prim dreaded Reaping Day.

 

Not for herself, but for her sister.

 

What better time to meet * _I’m sorry about your sister._ * than during the hour when people got to say goodbye?  

 

She hoped her soulmate wasn’t a Peacekeeper, although it was possible.  She wasn’t sure what she’d do about that.  The Capitol frowned on soulmates.  Tried to pretend they didn’t exist.  It’d be just her luck to find her soulmate and then immediately get arrested for subscribing to ancient superstitions like soulmarks.  

 

So on the afternoon of her very first Reaping, Prim stood under the hot June sun, staring at Effie Trinket in shock.  The woman had just called her name.

 

Almost as if she were in a dream, she heard Katniss cry out, “I volunteer as tribute!”

 

Prim turned to Katniss, an expression of horror forming on her face.  “No!” she screamed.  “No!”  She felt someone’s strong arms pick her up and carry her away from the square.  

 

Gale.  

 

She fought and clawed, trying to get free, to make her way up to the stage.  

 

This couldn’t be happening.  Not now.

 

**oOo**

 

No one said anything when she entered the poshly decorated room where Katniss was waiting to say her goodbyes.

 

Good.  Maybe she was wrong.  Maybe this wasn’t the day.

 

Although now an even worse possibility reared its head: Katniss would die in the Games and that’s when her soulmate would say the words.

 

Prim turned her eyes to her sister.  “Promise me you’ll win!”

 

“I’ll do my best.”

 

“No!  Promise!  You’ve got to do it!  Please, Katniss!  For me.”

 

“I’ll try, Little Duck.”  Katniss’s voice belied her words.

 

“That’s not good enough.  You’re strong.  You can hunt.”

 

“I don’t know how much good that’s gonna be in the Arena.”

 

Prim wanted to argue with her sister more, but one of the waiting Peacekeepers called time.

 

She could hear her sister crying out, “I love you!  I love you both!” as the Peacekeepers dragged both Prim and their mother away.

 

Out in the hallway, Prim leaned against the paneled walls of the Justice Building and sobbed.  Her mother tried to comfort her, awkwardly patting her on the back, which only made Prim cry harder.

 

She heard the door next to her sister’s room open and close and the sound of footsteps in the hall.

 

A young man’s voice spoke up.  “I’m sorry about your sister.”

 

Prim heard her mother gasp and the young girl turned her eyes to see who’d just spoken the hated words.

 

It was Peeta Mellark’s brother.  The one who could’ve volunteered for him, but hadn’t.  Bing.  The baker’s middle son, winner of this year’s wrestling tournament, and the subject of many a schoolgirl crush, including several of Prim’s friends.

 

Unbidden, the words sprung to her lips.  “No.  Not you.  It can’t be you.  This wasn’t supposed to happen now.  You were supposed to wait!”

 

“Oh shit.”

 

**oOo**

 

The atmosphere in the back room of the bakery was tense.

 

Mrs. Mellark sat on one end of the room, glaring at her and her mother, while Mr. Mellark and his eldest son, Johnny, looked on anxiously.

 

Bing was standing in one corner, his arms crossed over his chest, staring down at his feet.  The young man looked like he wished he were anywhere else.

 

Prim could relate.

 

“So,” Mrs. Mellark started in a clipped tone, “it seems like we have a bit of a situation.”

 

“You can say that again,” Johnny muttered under his breath, earning an elbow from his father.

 

A sharp glare from Mrs. Mellark stilled them both.  “So.  What are we going to do about this?” she asked, turning back to the Everdeens.

 

“I don’t see why we need to do anything, Ethel,” Prim’s mother said.  “Prim’s only twelve, and nothing says they have to get married now.”

 

“Nothing says they have to get married at all.  Which, frankly, I think would be the best option.”  She regarded Prim through narrowed eyes.  “Although I suppose I should be grateful that it’s the younger one.  At least she could pass for a merchant.”

 

“Mother!” Bing said, looking up from his shoes.

 

“What?  I’m just speaking the truth.”

 

“I think Lily’s right,” Mr. Mellark said.  “It’s far too early to start making plans, for anything.”  He stressed the last word.  He turned to her.  “Would you like a cookie, Prim?”

 

Prim shook her head.  “No thanks.  I’m not very hungry.”

 

“I’ll box a couple up for you two to take home.  After all, we pretty much are family now.”

 

“Thank you, Matz,” her mother said.

 

“Just don’t get any ideas that this is permanent,” Mrs. Mellark snapped.

 

Her mother sighed.  “Trust us, Ethel.  We won’t.”

 

**oOo**

 

Prim didn’t see Bing for the next few days.

 

Which was just fine with her.

 

She’d rather spend the time watching Katniss and trying not to think about the future.  She wasn’t sure how she’d be able to face Bing anyways.  She wanted her sister to come home.  She needed her sister to come home.

 

But for that to happen, that meant her soulmate’s brother had to die.

 

The twelve year old felt horrible.

 

There was a knock at the door a few minutes before Mandatory Viewing on the night of the interviews.  Curious as to who it might be, Prim answered it to see Bing standing there, cradling two loaves of bread in his hands.

 

“Hi,” he said, shuffling back and forth from foot to foot.

 

“Hi,” Prim echoed.  She looked around.  “You want to come in?”

 

The older boy nodded, stepping into her house.

 

Her mother was someplace else, tending to a couple of eighteen year old boys who’d gotten into a brawl at the after-Reaping party.  Prim wished she’d taken her mother up on the offer to go with her, but she hadn’t wanted to see anyone.

 

Now she was regretting her choice.

 

“Um… I meant it,” Bing said.  

 

“Meant what?”

 

“What I said in the Justice Building.  I’m sorry about your sister.”

 

“I meant it too,” Prim replied, lifting her chin.  “I didn’t want to meet you now.  Why couldn’t you have said that to me next year, after Katniss lost a spelling bee or something?  Why’d you have to say it now?”

 

“I don’t know,” Bing said.  “Guess the universe just hates me.”

 

“It hates me worse,” Prim shot back.

 

“Have you met my mother?”

 

“Ha ha, very funny.”

 

“Sorry.”  Bing fiddled with the bread in his hands.  “It’s my defense mechanism.  I make jokes when I’m nervous.”

 

“Why are you nervous?”

 

He gave her a look.  “Duh.”

 

A little light turned on in Prim’s mind.  “Are you saying I make you nervous?”

 

“Well, yeah.  It’s not every day that you find your soulmate standing in the Justice Building.”

 

“I suppose.  But that doesn’t explain why you’re nervous.”

 

“It’s just… you’re twelve!  I’m eighteen!  I mean, yeah, I knew you were young, but I was hoping we’d meet, I don’t know, maybe at your final after-Reaping party.  You’d be drunk and I’d offer to escort you home and you’d snap at me, but it would all be fine.”

 

She frowned.  “Just… what are my words?”  She couldn’t quite remember what she’d say that day in the Justice Building.

 

He lifted his shirt to expose his left side.  In her neat penmanship, she saw her words in bright yellow, the color of her namesake.  * _No.  Not you.  It can’t be you.  This wasn’t supposed to happen now.  You were supposed to wait!_ *

 

“Okay, that’s enough,” Prim said.

 

Bing gratefully tugged his shirt back down.  “Can I see mine?”

 

Prim shook her head.  

 

“Are they someplace naughty?”

 

Prim shook her head again.  “No.  They’re just… here.”  She motioned to her side.  “But I’d have to take my shirt off to show them to you.”

 

“Oh.  Yeah, no,” Bing said with a slight shudder.  “I don’t have to see them right now.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

He shifted his weight.  “So… I’m sorry I’m not the soulmate you wanted.”

 

Prim felt a little twinge of guilt go through her.  “I didn’t say that.  I just… didn’t want to meet you now.”

 

“I know the feeling.”

 

**oOo**

 

Over the next couple of days, Prim and Bing spent more and more time together.

 

When Katniss dropped the tracker jacker nest on the pack of Careers, Prim felt obligated to apologize on her sister’s behalf.  “I’m sure she’s not trying to kill your brother!”

 

“Can’t really blame her,” Bing said in response.  “I mean, he is with the Careers.  And he did proclaim on television that he was in love with her.  I’m surprised she didn’t clock him one.”

 

“I’m surprised she didn’t either,” Prim said.  “Katniss doesn’t like surprises.”

 

“That’s something you two have in common,” Bing said with a wry twist to his lips.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Bing sighed.  “I’m sorry too.  This is all my fault.  If I’d volunteered for Peeta like your sister volunteered for you, none of this would’ve happened.”

 

“But you don’t know that.  And it could’ve been worse!  What if you had volunteered and gone into the Games?  You and I wouldn’t have met when we did, but the words mean that we’re gonna meet,” Prim exclaimed.  Everyone knew if you had words written on your skin, you were going to meet that person.  Her mother hypothesized that the only reason there were so few soulmarks nowadays was because of the ban on travel instituted by the Capitol.  She thought everyone had a soulmate, but if you couldn’t meet them, you didn’t get the marks.  

 

It made sense.  

 

“It’s destiny,” she continued.  “The only way you could still say my words if you’d volunteered would be because you won.  Then you’d be apologizing for my sister being dead!”

 

His eyes widened as he realized the truth in her words.  

 

“At least Katniss has a chance now.  At least you’re not the one responsible for her being dead.”

 

“You’re not either,” Bing said quickly.

 

Prim shook her head sadly.  “We both know that’s not true.”

 

There was nothing he could say to that.

 

**oOo**

 

The train from the Capitol arrived, carrying the press team to conduct the final eight interviews.  

 

The team of four was housed in the Justice Building, but unlike what Prim expected, they hadn’t come knocking on her door yet.

 

In fact, Gale Hawthorne stopped by to tell her and her mother that they weren’t supposed to report to the Justice Building until Mandatory Viewing that night, and that they were to be dressed in their best clothing.  Which meant Prim was back in the same blouse and skirt that she’d worn on Reaping Day.

 

She didn’t understand.  This wasn’t normal.  Typically, the interviewers came and went quickly, especially in Twelve.  The last time anyone in Twelve made it to the final eight, the interviewer barely let the family speak two sentences before they packed up and left.

 

Everyone knew Twelve didn’t stand a chance.

 

So what was different about this year?

 

Other than her sister being the highest ranked tribute in the Games.

 

When Prim and her mother got to the Justice Building, they were ushered by several Peacekeepers to a large room where a screen had been set up, showing the Hunger Games.  Inside sat the Mellarks.

 

Prim’s eyes flew to Bing of their own accord.  He was wearing the same outfit that he’d worn on Reaping Day, the one that he’d worn when they met.

 

Her mother paused in the doorway, bending down to whisper in her ear, “Don’t say anything about your mark.”

 

Prim nodded her head.  The Capitol didn’t like soulmarks.  They considered them rebellious.  The fact that her family had soulmarks already made them undesirable in the Capitol’s eyes.

 

Thankfully, Katniss had managed to keep the words * _Good luck._ * in muted orange letters running down her right shin covered.  Prim was sure Katniss wouldn’t have gotten as many sponsors if they knew the truth.

 

The interview team was made up of four people, including a woman with bright green vines trailing over the side of her head.  The tattoo looked odd, like it was hiding something, and when Prim took a few steps closer, she could vaguely make out the words ‘pleasure’ and ‘work’ hidden amongst the flowing leaves and stems.  

 

This Capitolite had a soulmark, and what’s more, she wasn’t really trying to hide it.  Considering the words were on the side of the woman’s head, all she would need to do was grow her hair out, and no one would have any idea.  Instead, she’d obfuscated them and highlighted them, almost like she was daring people to catch them.

 

Prim liked her.  The woman didn’t even need to introduce herself, and already Prim knew that this woman could be trusted.

 

“I’m Cressida,” the woman said, introducing herself.  “And these are my coworkers, Messalla, Castor, and Pollux.  We’ll be conducting your interviews.”

 

Peeta’s eldest brother, Johnny, stepped forward, extending his hand.  “It’s a pleasure to work with a woman as lovely as you, Ms. Cressida.”

 

The woman blinked at him, her jaw dropping.  “I feel as if I’ve been waiting forever to make your acquaintance.”

 

Everyone stared at the two before Bing uttered what was on everyone’s minds, “Well, shit.”

 

**oOo**

 

The interviews still took place, with Cressida and Johnny casting puppy dog eyes at each other the whole time.

 

Before the Capitol woman left, Bing confided in Prim that he was pretty sure Johnny had introduced her to the slag heap.

 

Prim shook her head.  “So, do all of you have soulmarks?” she asked while they were out watching Lady graze in the Meadow.

 

Bing nodded.  “Yes, much to my parents’ dismay.  At least Johnny and I were able to recognize our soulmates when we met them.  Peeta’s just says ‘thanks’ in dark green.”

 

“That sucks,” Prim said, shaking her head.  “Katniss doesn’t have much better.  She’s got ‘good luck’ for hers, in orange.”

 

Bing paused and looked over at her.  “What color’s my mark on you?”

 

“Dark red.”

 

“My favorite color,” he said with a satisfied nod.  “I bet yellow’s yours.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Have I mentioned what my brothers’ favorite colors are?”

 

Prim shook her head.

 

“Johnny likes green.  Specifically, pine green.  Peeta, on the other hand, likes orange.  Not that bright orange you see on Capitolites, but sort of like that color.”  He pointed at the setting sun.  “Any chance your sister’s mark is the same?”

 

Prim nodded her head.  

 

“Oh, I am going to tease them about that when Peet gets home.”

 

“If they get home,” Prim corrected.

 

“Oh, they’re gonna get home.  They’re the Star-Crossed Lovers from District Twelve.  Even the Capitol changed the rules so two of them could win,” Bing said, referring to the rule change that had been announced just that afternoon.  “They’re gonna make it home, and I’m gonna rub it in my baby brother’s face that I knew who his soulmate was before he did.”

 

Prim grinned.  “Just so long as I get to tell Katniss.”

 

Bing smiled at her.  “We could do it at the same time?  You know, drop the bomb that we’re soulmates and then that we know they’re soulmates.  What I wouldn’t give to see your hard-ass big sister’s expression when she finds out that her innocent baby sister is attached to the biggest player in our school.”

 

“Yeah.  Speaking of…” Prim shifted on the ground, “should I get mad at you for that?”

 

Bing froze. “Are you?”  His voice was vulnerable, nervous.

 

“Not really.  I know I’m still young, and not interesting to boys like you.”

 

“To be fair, I’m not interested in boys either.”

 

She flushed.  “You know what I mean!”

 

“I do.”

 

“Good!”

 

They sat in silence for a little bit.  “Prim… about the girls...”

 

“No.  It’s okay.  Just… when I get older, I’m not gonna put up with it, I want you to know.  So you’d better have your fun now, while you can.”

 

His eyes flicked to her.  “I pretty much think my wandering eyed days are over.”

 

Prim couldn’t help the blush that formed on her cheeks.

 

**oOo**

 

The following day, Katniss found Peeta camouflaged along the edge of the creek.  

 

The relief she showed almost convinced Prim that what she felt for Bing’s brother was real.  But Prim knew her sister.  Katniss would never let herself fall in love with somebody who couldn’t be her soulmate.

 

The question was, did Katniss suspect the truth?

 

Prim got her answer a few minutes later.  Katniss was stripping Peeta to help get him cleaned up and inspect his wound.  The moment Peeta’s injured left leg was revealed and the dark green, almost black words showed, Katniss pulled back with a gasp.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Peeta said, his voice weak.  “Doesn’t change how I feel about you.  Heck, for all I know, I already met my soulmate and it’s your friend Gale.  Pretty sure the first word he said to me was thanks after I sold him a loaf of bread one day.”

 

“No.  It’s not Gale,” Katniss answered, her voice still tinged with shock.

 

“Could be.”

 

“It’s not.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

Katniss looked up him, her eyes shining.  “Because it’s me.”

 

Peeta stared at her, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.  “I think I might be dreaming.  Are you saying that you’re my soulmate?”

 

“Uh huh.”

 

He swallowed, a desperate hope dawning in his eyes.  “Prove it.”

 

“Well, um, this is my handwriting, and,” she rolled up her pants to reveal her words, “I’m pretty sure these are the first words you ever said to me.”

 

Peeta ran one hesitant finger down Katniss’s leg, tracing the orange handwriting.  “Now I know I’m dreaming.”

 

“If you’re dreaming,” Katniss said, “then so am I.”  She bent down to kiss him, a real kiss.

 

Prim swore she could hear the chorus of ‘Aw’s coming from the Capitol.

 

**oOo**

 

This was the day.  It was the day Katniss and Peeta would come home.

 

The two of them had managed to pull off the impossible, becoming dual Victors of the Seventy Fourth Annual Hunger Games.

 

Prim was perched on Bing’s shoulders, his strong hands wrapped around her thighs to steady her.  So she was the first to catch a glimpse of the two.

 

They were leaning out the window of the train, waving happily at the crowd.  Their other hands were joined together, resting on the windowsill of the train.

 

They were young and in love, and Prim felt overwhelmed with joy.  

 

They’d done it.  

 

Now everything would be perfect.

 

**oOo**

 

Things weren’t perfect.

 

President Snow was outraged that two teenagers had managed to force the Capitol’s hand.

 

Prim wasn’t supposed to know about that, but she wasn’t an idiot.  She couldn’t help overhearing conversations between the two of them and Haymitch.

 

And then there were the other things, like the district’s first Parcel Day arriving with spoiled food.  Or the sudden increase in Peacekeepers.

 

Even old Cray seemed tense.

 

Still, Prim was happy.  She and Bing had managed to become good friends, best friends really.  It didn’t matter that he was eighteen years old and she was only twelve.  They knew each other, and what’s more, they trusted each other.  Prim knew she could tell Bing anything and he’d keep it secret.  So she shared her fears with him, and he shared his with her.

 

They decided to forgo their plan of teasing Katniss and Peeta.  The newlyweds were facing enough problems. They didn’t need their siblings tormenting them too.

 

Apparently, they were supposed to wait to get married so the Capitol could participate.  Instead, when they announced their marriage to Caesar at the end of their Victory Tour, the crowd in the Capitol gasped and let out cries of disappointment and rage.  The Capitol felt they should’ve been included in the wedding, and were insulted that they hadn’t been.

 

Prim’s heart sunk.  She feared that there were more dark days on the horizon.

 

**oOo**

 

Prim was right.  

 

Soon after the Victory Tour, Katniss revealed that she was pregnant.  Only a few months along, but she was due sometime around the end of July.

 

If that weren’t news enough, a new Head Peacekeeper arrived to replace Cray.

 

Romulus Thread was everything Cray wasn’t.  Strict.  Heartless.  And engaged.

 

He was quick to assert his power by whipping Peeta’s mother for saying something uncomplimentary about one of the Capitol’s restrictions.  Only five lashes, but it was a clear warning.

 

Disobedience of any kind would not be tolerated.

 

Prim made sure to keep her soulmark hidden.   She had a sneaking suspicion it was about to become even more dangerous to have someone’s words written on your skin.

 

Her instincts paid off, because on April First, Snow read aloud the rules for that year’s Quarter Quell.  Any person over Reaping age with a soulmark was eligible for the Quell.

 

She met her mother’s eyes.  

 

The first shot had been fired.

 

**oOo**

 

Everything was chaos.

 

Katniss was beside herself with fear.  “They’re after me.  Me and Peeta.  They’re doing this because of us!”

 

Prim silently agreed.  The Capitol had it out for her sister and her husband, and Prim knew that their names would be the only ones in the Reaping bowl.  

 

Katniss didn’t stand a chance.  Not with the baby.  And Peeta would do anything to protect them.

 

Prim needed to talk to Bing.  There was no way she was going to let her sister’s whole family die because the Capitol had their feelings hurt.  This was revenge, pure and simple.

 

The following day, Prim learned it was worse than she’d thought.

 

The Capitol set up a registration for people with soulmarks, offering a reward if people turned their neighbors in.  Soulmark registration was required.  The penalty for failing to register was severe: the family faced a steep fine and possible deportation.

 

The line of people registering their soulmarks wrapped around the Justice Building and snaked through the square.

 

Prim’s mother and the Mayor’s daughter were two of the citizens waiting to register.  

 

Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch had received a notice that morning, stating that they’d already been registered and not to bother showing up.

 

Prim was torn.

 

She waited nervously at the back door of the bakery for Bing to come out.  When he did, she practically dragged him away to the tribute cemetery.  Prim had noticed that no one went there.  The mockingjays even seemed to sing a little louder in that place.

 

She knelt down by the graves of the two tributes from the Eighth Hunger Games.  “I’m not gonna register,” Prim stated.  “No one knows about my mark but your family and mine.  Is your mom gonna turn us in?”

 

Bing shook his head.  “She’d have to turn herself in.  Mom’s got a soulmark too.”

 

“What?”

 

“He died in the Forty Fifth Hunger Games.”

 

“Your dad?”

 

Bing shook his head.  “He’s a blank.  Mom won’t say anything, because then she’d have to explain why she didn’t say anything before.”

 

“What about your dad?  Or Johnny?”

 

“Johnny’s gonna register, but I don’t think he’ll say anything about me.  He knows people have seen his mark, no point in trying to hide it.”

 

“What about you?”

 

Bing sighed.  “I should probably register too.  My teammates, on the wrestling team.  The showers.  Everyone sees everything.”

 

“Ew!”

 

“You’re thirteen, what do you know?”

 

“Just that I’m glad they don’t make us take showers for gym yet.  We’ve always hidden my mark.  If Katniss hadn’t revealed hers, I don’t think anybody would’ve known.  Mom and Dad were pretty strict about that.  In fact, I’ve even got a note claiming I’ve got breathing problems to get me out of PE.”

 

“So you’ll be safe,” he said, letting out a shaky breath.  “Good.  One less thing I have to worry about.  I don’t want to lose you.”

 

“I’m going in.”

 

“What?”

 

“You know they’re gonna pick Katniss and Peeta.  You know it.  This whole Quell is a sham.  Katniss and Peeta’s names are coming out of the bowl.  But they won’t be the ones going into the Games.”  She tilted her chin up.  “Not if I’ve got anything to say about it.”

 

He stared at her, suspicion spreading across his face.  “So, what?  You’re gonna hide your soulmark until the last moment and then just volunteer?”

 

“Uh huh.”  She willed him to understand what she was trying to say.

 

“I guess that means I’m gonna have to go with you,” he said, shaking his head.

 

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

 

**oOo**

 

They spent what little time they could preparing for the Games.  Prim managed to talk Katniss into letting Bing and her take part in their training.  They needed sparring partners, she reasoned, and Haymitch wasn’t doing very well after Peeta dumped all of his alcohol.

 

Katniss seemed confused but acquiesced, probably hoping to spend what little time she had left with her family.

 

Prim and Bing also trained separately.  

 

Her soulmate was strong.  Really strong.  And the best wrestler in Twelve.

 

Prim knew plants, and they managed to rope Rory Hawthorne into teaching them how to move quietly through the woods and set snares.

 

One day, a couple of weeks before the Reaping, Katniss led them all out under the fence to a large lake, where she attempted to teach them to swim.

 

Prim took to the water like her nickname.  Like she was born to it.  Bing only managed to learn how to dog paddle.  She hoped the Quell wouldn’t be a water arena.  They’d be screwed.  It would take a miracle for one of them to win.

 

**oOo**

 

Reaping Day arrived.  

 

Prim pulled on a skirt and blouse, making sure it was one she could easily lift up to reveal her soulmark.  She hoped her family wouldn’t get into too much trouble over her deception, but she didn’t think Katniss could get into any more trouble anyway.

 

The Reaping went about how she expected.  Effie Trinket teetered up to the large glass bowl and pulled out a name.  “Katniss Mellark!”

 

“I volunteer!” Prim cried from her place near the stage.

 

“Little girl, I think you’re confused.  Only people with soulmarks are eligible for this Games.  You’ll have to wait until next year.”

 

“I have a soulmark.”

 

All around her, people gasped.  Katniss stared at her in shock, her mouth opening and closing but not making a sound.

 

“Well, why didn’t you register it?” Effie asked.

 

Prim thought quickly.  “I didn’t… it’s pretty… it just showed up.”

 

“Oh!”  Effie fluttered a little, then shrugged.  “Well, okay then.”

 

Katniss finally found her voice.  “Prim, no!”

 

“You can’t stop me, Katniss.”

 

“But--”

 

“No.  This is my choice.”

 

“I’m afraid the girl is correct,” Effie said.  “Come along, dear.”

 

Prim marched up onstage, her head held high.  Unlike when Katniss volunteered for her, no one dared salute.

 

That was fine.  She wasn’t doing this for them.

 

She was doing it for her sister.

 

“Well, I suppose you’d like to know who your district partner will be.”

 

“Whatever, I already know who you’re gonna pull, so you might as well get to it.”

 

“Well, really!”  

 

“Yes, really.”

 

Effie sighed.  Her heels clacking on the stage, she minced over to the other bowl.  When the woman pulled the name, Prim stood there and silently mouthed along, “Peeta Mellark.”

 

From the crowd, three voices called out, “I volunteer!”

 

“Oh.  Oh my!  Well this is unexpected.  You were supposed to wait until he’s come forward!”

 

“Screw that, I’m not letting my baby brother go in this time.”

 

“Bing!”

 

“No, Johnny.  I could’ve volunteered last year for him, and I didn’t.  Let me pay my debt.”

 

From the other side of the stage, Prim heard Haymitch Abernathy chuckling.  “Well, I guess that makes my sacrifice pretty pointless.”

 

“Pretty much,” Bing said, making his way over to her.  “It’s gonna be up to you to make sure one of us comes home.  And that’s gonna be you, Prim.”

 

“I take it you two already know each other?” Effie asked, looking between them.

 

“We’ve met,” Bing replied dryly.

 

“Well, I see this year’s going to be even more exciting than last.”

 

Prim wasn’t sure, but she could’ve sworn that Effie Trinket was about to cry.

 

**oOo**

 

Prim’s goodbyes were short and sweet, mostly friends from school and Rory Hawthorne crying about how he’d always had a crush on her.  She didn’t want to tell him he’d never stood a chance.  She was pretty sure she was falling for Bing, even though their ages were so far apart.

 

When they got on the train, Katniss rounded on her sister.  “Why didn’t you tell me you got a soulmark?”

 

Prim lifted her shirt to reveal her words.  “Does this explain it?”

 

Katniss read the words and blanched.  “Do you know…”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Is it someone I know?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you gonna tell me?”

 

“No.”

 

“I don’t like you keeping secrets from me!”

 

She grinned.  “Too bad.”

 

“Why are you doing this, Prim?”

 

“I would’ve thought it was pretty obvious.”

 

“But why you?  Why not Mom, or somebody else?”

 

“Do you really think Mom stands a chance?”

 

“You don’t either!” Katniss cried, tears running down her face.  

 

Reaching up to wipe the tears away, Prim whispered, “We’ll see.  You’ll just have to be a good mentor and get me lots of sponsors, won’t you?”

 

“I’ll do my best.”

 

“Do better than that.  See if you can make history a second time.”

 

“What are you saying?”

 

“I’m saying, see if you can make it so District Twelve has two Victors once again.”

 

Katniss looked at her.  It was clear to Prim that she didn’t understand the full nuance of what Prim was saying, but Peeta was her husband and Bing was his brother.  She nodded.

 

“I’ll try.”

 

**oOo**

 

All six of them watched the Reapings together.

 

Surprisingly, from District One, there was no female volunteer.  Instead, one of the former Victors, Cashmere, had her name selected.

 

“Well that’s unfortunate,” Haymitch grunted, taking a long sip of his wine.  “Her name probably got pulled to steal some of yours and the boy’s thunder, sweetheart.  Cashmere’s popular, and what’s more, she’s ruthless.  And the Capitol wants her.  It’ll be hard to get sponsors with her in the Games.  Just be thankful Finnick Odair doesn’t qualify, otherwise you’d be in real trouble.”

 

District Two seemed pretty standard: hulking boy, dangerous looking girl.  

 

Three had an elderly couple who were clearly husband and wife end up as their tributes.

 

The next surprise came when District Seven appeared on the screen.

 

The boy was sixteen and looked strong, but a twelve year old girl’s name got called.  As soon as she was up on stage an abrasive voice called out, “Well, fuck.  I volunteer!”

 

“Johanna Mason has a soulmark?” Katniss gasped.

 

“Yup.  Died in a lumber accident a couple years after Jo won.”  

 

There was something in the way he said it that made Prim think it wasn’t an accident at all.

 

The rest of the Reapings weren’t terribly out of the ordinary.  Most of the people called were young, under the age of eighteen, and most had soulmarks peeking out from the edges of their clothing.

 

“Wouldn’t it be hilarious if half of these people were soulmates with each other?” Haymitch asked.  

 

Prim rolled her eyes.  “I think I’d just die laughing.”

 

“Primrose Everdeen!” Effie scolded.  “Don’t you even joke about that!”

 

Bing bopped her on the nose.  “Yeah, Primrose, that’s my job.”

 

**oOo**

 

Haymitch’s words turned out to be prophetic.  

 

A full three quarters of the tributes turned out to be soulmates with another tribute.  The only exceptions were Cashmere, Johanna, the boy from Five, the girl from Six, the girl from Nine, and the girl from Eleven.  The girls from Six and Nine had already met their soulmates back in their own districts, while Cashmere was decidedly tight-lipped about hers, even going so far as to cover the mark on her upper arm with makeup.  All Prim could manage to make out was that the color was bright turquoise blue, the same color as Caesar Flickerman’s hair that year.

 

Most of the kids, assuming they were going to die, spent what little time they had with their new soulmates.  The typical district alliances fell apart quickly, especially once it was revealed that the boy from Eleven and the boy from Two were soulmates. while the boy from One and the boy from Eight wore each other’s marks.

 

You could almost sense the desperation in the tributes, and for the first time in as long as Prim could remember, the typical inter-district rivalries were forgotten.  It soon became clear that the soulmates were going to stick together.

 

It was just a question as to who the unpartnered tributes would ally with.

 

Surprisingly, yet at the same time not, Cashmere and Johanna formed their own alliance, while the girls from Six and Nine made half-hearted attempts to memorize the skills at the survival stations.  The two who hadn’t met their soulmates were oddly optimistic, considering the current odds.  It was understood that, if you had a soulmark, you’d meet your soulmate.  If they could make it to the Games without ever meeting them, well, they’d have to meet them after, right?

 

Prim wondered if, maybe, one of their soulmates might not be Caesar Flickerman, since he was guaranteed to talk to everyone.  She wondered if the long running host had a soulmark.

 

She somehow doubted he did.

 

**oOo**

 

On the second day of training, Johanna Mason plopped her tray down next to Bing.  “So, you must be hot buns’s big brother.”

 

Her soulmate blinked.  “Hot buns?”

 

“Peeta,” she said.  “It might just be me, but I find your brother’s ass quite delectable.”

 

“I hadn’t noticed.”

 

“No, I don’t suppose you would.  What about you, girlie?  You ever check out the baby Mellark’s derriere?”

 

“I’m thirteen.”

 

“So you’re young.  That doesn’t mean you’re dead.”

 

“Honestly, I never thought about it,” Prim said, watching Bing out of the corner of her eye.  “But I suppose you do have a point.”

 

Just as she hoped he would, Bing bristled at her observation.  “Prim!”

 

“What?  Your brother’s got a nice butt!”

 

Bing sputtered.  

 

“Okay, I think you’ve got a nice one too.”

 

Johanna’s eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them.  “Oh ho ho.  I see how the tree falls.  You two.  You’re soulmates.”

 

“No we’re not,” Prim protested.

 

“Please.  It’s fucking obvious.  Besides, we’re all in this shit hellhole together.”

 

“Are you proposing an alliance?” Bing asked.

 

“Duh.  Why else would I sit with you losers?”

 

“What’s District One got to say?”

 

“Cash?  She’s on board.  We Victors got to stick together, as do Victors’ families.  You got it?”

 

“How can we trust you?” Bing asked.

 

Johanna smirked and pulled out a well-worn flask of alcohol.  Taking a deep swig, she passed it to Bing.  “This answer your question?”

 

**oOo**

 

Prim watched the interviews nervously.  Caesar didn’t seem like his typical jovial self.  There was an air of melancholy to him that just felt a little off.  She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she could swear he was having trouble holding back tears as the proceedings went on.  He kept glancing out at somebody in the audience, but Prim wasn’t sure who.  Her vantage point from backstage didn’t afford her a good view.

 

When it was her turn, Prim did her best to hold her head up high and project confidence, like Effie coached her.  Her stylist, Cinna, had dressed her in a flowy pale blue dress that matched her eyes.  She felt like a princess in a fairytale, and she remembered what happened to the princesses in the fairytales.  They had to go through hell first before they earned their happy endings.

 

She was going to get that happy ending.

 

Prim chatted with Caesar, playing up her ability, as well as the fact that her sister had won the previous Games.  Her training score of a seven was good, but not remarkable, and Prim felt she needed something to get the Capitol’s attention.

 

But before she could think of anything to say, her time was up, and she was led offstage to sit in the front row of the audience, next to the other tributes.

 

Bing was the final tribute.  Like his brother the year before, Bing charmed Caesar and the audience with an amusing anecdote, this time about how he apparently had gone through a Reaping with a pair of split pants.  

 

When Caesar asked him if he’d met his soulmate, Bing caught her eye before nodding.  “I have.”

 

“Oh, she must be a very special girl to land a man like yourself.”

 

“She is.  She’s perfect.”

 

“And who is the lucky lady?”

 

“My district partner.  Primrose Everdeen.”

 

**oOo**

 

Bing’s revelation didn’t cause an uproar.  How could it?  The majority of the tributes were soulmates with each other.  It would take someone being soulmates with someone as high profile as President Snow or Caesar Flickerman to get the Games called off.

 

But it did cause a murmur.  And maybe that would be enough.

 

When Haymitch came to get her the next morning, Prim was as ready as she was going to get.  

 

She’d spent the night curled up next to Bing, just sleeping.  He wasn’t willing to go any further than that, although she did ask him to give her her first kiss.  She deserved that much.

 

He obliged.  The kiss was gentle, just the press of his lips against hers.  Still, Prim didn’t feel cheated.  She knew there would be more later.  They were going to make it.  They had to.  She had faith in Katniss and in her own abilities.  

 

Based on what she could figure out from the survival stations, the Arena was going to be in some kind of woodland.  She recognized many of the plants at the training stations.  So she felt confident that she and Bing might stand a chance.

 

Bing was still insistent that, if only one of them could live, that she make it home, but Prim countered that they were going home together or not at all; besides, it was unlikely that either of them would make it home.  

 

The girl from Eleven had met her soulmate during the interviews; apparently her soulmark read, * _You’re up in five minutes._ *  It was one of the technicians.  She felt sorry for them both.

 

That meant the boy from Five was the only one who hadn’t met his soulmate yet.  And unless his soulmate turned out to be one of the Peacekeepers escorting him through the stockyard or the person injecting the tracker into the tributes’ arms, it was pretty much a given that he was going to win the Games.

 

Prim could feel her confidence slowly seeping away.  It was just too obvious, how it would turn out.

 

All she could hope for was a relatively quick and painless death, although Johanna told her not to give up yet.

 

It was hard to keep believing, but she did her best.  She had to try.

 

Katniss was inconsolable the morning of the Games, and Peeta wasn’t much better.  In a way, Prim wished Haymitch had accompanied them alone, rather than going through another round of  painful goodbyes.  Still, Prim hugged her sister, and promised to do her best to win, even though she was pretty sure she was going to die.

 

Then Katniss rounded on Bing.  “You take care of my sister, or I’ll have your head.”

 

Instead of joking like Prim half-expected him to, Bing just met her sister’s gaze and said, “I’ll protect Prim with my life.  And death, if need be.”

 

It was quite possibly the most romantic thing Prim had ever heard anyone say.

 

**oOo**

 

Prim was wrong about the Arena.  It wasn’t a woodlands.

 

Well, not entirely.

 

While the Cornucopia was nestled in a wooded area by a small lake, most of the Arena consisted of thin avenues running up and down between ruined buildings.  

 

After raiding the Cornucopia, Prim, Bing, Cashmere, and Johanna hightailed it towards the southeast.

 

“Everyone’s gonna think we’re gonna hang out by the Cornucopia,” Johanna explained as they walked.  “Let ‘em.  The place is too exposed and there’s not enough supplies there to make it worth our while.  We’re better off holing up and letting people kill each other off.”

 

It made as much sense as anything else.  

 

Johanna was obviously the leader of their little group, but Prim found herself gravitating towards Cashmere.  The beautiful blond woman was nothing like she expected.  She was surprisingly charismatic and even friendly.

 

“Why are you being so nice to us?” Bing demanded late that afternoon.

 

Cashmere glanced over her shoulder at Bing.  “Because I’m sick of being a piece in the Capitol’s Games.  I know who the real enemy is, and it’s not you kids.”  

 

The words were seditious, even treasonous, but Prim believed her.  Cashmere’s anger was genuine.

 

They reached the sea on the morning of the second day.  They could see other ruined cities across the way.

 

“This doesn’t look like the spot,” Johanna muttered.

 

“I think we need to head further south,” Cashmere responded.

 

“Where are we going?”  Bing asked.

 

“Someplace where we can’t get snuck up on,” Johanna replied.  “Come on, let’s move it.”

 

But Bing refused to move.  “This doesn’t make any sense.”

 

“You can go back if you want,” Johanna said with a careless shrug.

 

Prim shook her head.  “No.  You promised not to kill us.  No one else promised that.”

 

“So long as you don’t annoy me like your sister does.”

 

“Prim’s nothing like her sister,” Bing protested.

 

Johanna rolled her eyes.  “That’s a good thing.  I would’ve killed Katniss by now.”

 

Each night, they watched the sky.  The soulmates seemed to die in pairs, probably protecting each other, although Prim wondered if one or two didn’t kill themselves after their soulmate was taken out by another tribute.

 

They didn’t see much in the way of traps or tributes on their way south.

 

When they reached the very tip of the land, Prim could just faintly make out a bluish-green figure in the distance.

 

“Is that it?” Johanna asked, turning to Cashmere.

 

“Looks about right.”

 

“Great.  Let’s find a place to hole up.”

 

“Is what it?” Bing demanded.

 

“You’ll find out, bread boy.  You’ll find out.”

 

Early in the morning on the fourth day of the Games, they did.  The sound of an approaching hovercraft startled Prim and Bing awake.  

 

“Finally,” Johanna snapped.  “I was wondering if they’d forgotten about us.”

 

“If who had forgotten about us?” Bing demanded.  “Damn it, stop keeping secrets!  Just what the fuck’s going on here?”

 

Johanna smirked.  “Why?  Don’t you know a rescue when you see one?”

 

“A rescue?  From who?”

 

“District Thirteen,” Cashmere supplied.

 

“What?  But Thirteen’s destroyed.”

 

The blonde woman pointed at the hovercraft.  “Tell that to them.”

 

“So, pipsqueak,” Johanna snarked, “do you want to start a revolution?’

 

**oOo**

 

They play in the meadow, the dancing girl and the laughing boy.  Happy.  Safe.  Secure.  She fought hard and long so that they would have this privilege.  

 

The two children don’t know they play on a graveyard.  That underneath their feet lie the former inhabitants of District Twelve, including Prim’s brother-in-law, Johnny, and Katniss’s best friend, Gale.  They died in the bombing of Twelve, retaliation by Snow for the rescue from the Quell.  They were just the first.  Thousands of people died, almost the entire population of Twelve.  The only survivors were the two hundred people Rory and Thom managed to spirit away to the woods.  

 

The revolution was hard fought, and it left scars on all of them.  Some more pronounced than others.  She lost her arm during the war.  Others lost so much more.

 

After three years and many battles, Panem was free of the Capitol.  A new era began, with Alma Coin as its leader.

 

The five years Coin was at the reins could only be described as a terror.  People who were seen as allies to the Capitol or disloyal to Thirteen were summarily publicly executed.  Neighbors turned on each other, whispering behind their backs, “Is so and so a Capitol sympathizer?”  The citizens of the Capitol, other than the avouched for rebels and spies, were executed.  Children under the age of five were spared, split up to be raised in different districts, but everyone else faced the firing squad.

 

The terror finally ended when Boggs, one of Coin’s most trusted military leaders, had had enough.  He managed to get close enough to her to empty his sidearm into her head.

 

The relief that swept through Panem was palpable.  And for the first time in eight years, Prim began to hope.

 

She and Bing moved back to District Twelve along with anyone else looking for a fresh start.  Katniss and Peeta were already there, with their eldest child, a boy named Gale after Katniss’s lost friend.

 

After the terror, it took a long time for Panem to heal.  For Prim and Bing to heal.

 

But together they did.

 

When Prim announced her pregnancy, Katniss enveloped her sister in a hug and said, “That’s one more thing we get to do together.”

 

Katniss’s daughter and her son are as close as she and Katniss used to be.  And they remind Prim of everything that they fought for, of everything that makes life worth living.  They’ll never have to know the terror of being Reaped or being persecuted for the words written on their skin.

 

Prim and her family fought for these freedoms.

 

Looking out at her family, it was worth the cost.

 

And it all started because of five little words.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> AN:  
> Written: 1/27/16  
> Revised: 2/1/16
> 
> This is our entry for Love In Panem. We hope you liked!
> 
> Much thanks to @akai-echo for making the banner!
> 
> After we finished Floriography, we missed Bing and Prim so much that we decided to write a soulmate fic featuring them. 
> 
> This is a slightly different world with different consequences. Coin got to be in power and it was reminiscent of the Terror post French Revolution. Gale did die trying to save Madge. They were soulmates in this universe and this can be seen as a sequel of sorts to “You Had Me At Hello.” Albeit you may want to do what we do and state that all of these stand alone and separate… because we like Gadge. 
> 
> The whole your soulmate’s first words being written on your skin was originated by Amusewithaview in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you like MCU fics, go read hers. They are awesome.  
> Thanks for reading!


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